A. Tacchella

M. Cristelli

G. Caldarelli

A. Gabrielli

L. Pietronero

We introduce a novel method to define a self-consistent and non-monetary metrics for the competitiveness of countries.

The availability of data corresponding to the products exported by all countries provides an excellent dataset to test economic ideas and extracts new information about the process of economic development. The matrix of countries and exported products shows a marked triangular structure instead of the block-diagonal structure expected from Ricardian arguments of specialization. This observation points to the fact that diversification is instead the dominant effect in the globalized market. We discuss how to define a suitable non-monetary metrics for the value of diversification and the effective complexity of products. We discuss in detail the previous proposed approaches to assess this challenge and their limitations. We introduce a new approach to the definition of these metrics which seems to overcome the previous problems and we test it in a series of model systems.

Economic complexity: conceptual grounding of a new metrics for global competitiveness

Next generation structures and materials are key to aerospace, the built environment and exploring space. Hierarchical materials, fractal structures, and polydisperse systems offer dramatic gains in efficiency. Advances in 3D printing and self-assembly mean that these novel technologies can be practically manufactured.

Extreme materials

Silicon-based electronic computing is hitting energetic and technological barriers, and quantum computing remains a theoretical challenge of the future. To maintain an exponential increase in computing power, we require alternative frameworks. Two which we are studying are memristors and photonic computing.

Low-energy computing

Information science underpins modern society. Quantum information science is creating the next generation of information technology, where effects like superposition and entanglement are exploited to envisage qualitatively new technologies. This field also gives an alternative perspective on physics, wherein information takes centre stage.

Quantum information

Innovation is to organizations what evolution is to organisms: it is how organisations adapt to changes in the environment and improve. New mathematical models of component recombination and the building blocks of economic complexity offer fundamental insights into how firms, countries and technologies develop.

Science of innovation

The global behaviour of local processes depends on the geometry of their underlying space. Studying processes on ideal graphs and on irregular networks derived from real data uncovers surprising behaviour in biological, social and financial systems. The tools of this field include spectral, replica, community and combinatoric techniques.

Graph theory

Institutional risk originates from ordinary economic uncertainties. But when these risks propagate across inter-connected institutions, internal amplification can lead to dramatic exposures. These systemic risks can be mitigated by applying ideas from cascading failures, diversification and extreme value theory.